UNLV picked to finish last in MWC

Steve Guiremand

Monday, July 18, 2005 | 9:37 a.m.

CORONADO, Calif. -- Mike Sanford won't exactly be burdened with great expectations in his first year as UNLV's head football coach.

Far from it in fact.

The Rebels, coming off a dismal 2-9 campaign in 2004, were picked to repeat as Mountain West Conference cellar-dwellers in a poll of league coaches and media members released this morning at the start of the conference's football media days festivities.

Sanford's former team, Utah, which went a perfect 12-0 en route to an historic BCS bowl invitation a year ago, was picked to repeat as conference champs despite losing No. 1 NFL draft pick Alex Smith at quarterback and national coach of the year Urban Meyer to Florida.

Following the Utes in the preseason poll were New Mexico, which will try for its fourth consecutive postseason bowl berth, defending Las Vegas Bowl champion Wyoming, BYU and Colorado State.

TCU, which moves over from Conference-USA, where it won at least 10 games in three of the past five seasons, was picked to finish sixth, followed by Air Force, San Diego State and then the Rebels.

Senior safety Joe Miklos was the only Rebel selected to the preseason all-conference first team.

New Mexico senior running back DonTrell Moore, who chases his fourth 1,000-yard rushing season in a row despite undergoing surgery for a torn ACL in early February, was voted the conference offensive player of the year, while Utah senior nose tackle Steve Fifita, the defensive MVP of the Utes' Fiesta Bowl victory against Pitt, was named the defensive player of the year.

Colorado State running back Nnamdi Ohaeri, a junior transfer from UCLA where he played defensive back, was voted the conference's top newcomer.